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Hey Everybody!   Sorry I have been off the grid!  I finished wwoofing at my last place and just didn't get around a computer!  

So  I finished WWOOFing!  Then back to Christchurch!  I spent the night in Jail and then off to Nelson!  Now don't freak out.  The Jailhouse in Arlington ( a suburb of Christchurch)  has been turned into a backpackers!  It was really cool and really nice.  They call us inmates and you can have a mug shot taken.  It is quite fun.  Anyway I spent one night in Christchurch and then went to Nelson.  

I had two bus tickets left so I picked a destination.  Nelson won becuase there are beaches there with water warm enough to swim!!!!!!!!!  Anyway I spent a weekend in Nelson.  It was really fun and warm.  I had a great time!  I got to ride a train partway to Nelson!  I have never ridden on a train before.  I met some really  nice people as well.  

Anyway I left Nelson on Sunday and went back to Jail for three nights until my flight out today!  My last days in Christchurch were fun.  Sorta!  I spent my first day at the Botanical gardens.  Which are really beautiful!  I also finally figured out how to use the auto picture on my camera, so I got some great pictures of me!  I also went out to a nice dinner as a treat to myself.  I went to the Lone Star Cafe, not related to the one in the States.  It was really good food.  That day was really good.  The next one wasn't really.  I had to go to the city center to buy a stuffed kiwi and while there my crown fell out!  I knew I needed to get it fixed when I got home, but I had to go to a dentist in Christchurch!  Money I wasn't planning on spending, but oh well.  That day was redeemed by a group of us being idiots in the hostel.  We set up my camera with the remote and did sequential pictures!  Just take one, move, take another.  It was quite fun and totally pointless!  

Anyway that is all I did lately.  Right now I am waiting in the Sydney airport for my plane in 3 hours!  Then onto another long flight and an 8 hour layover in Hawaii.  YAY!  Not, because you can't do anything in 8 hours.  Oh well.  

Anyway I will be back in Phoenix at 8 am Phoenix time! on the 25th of March.  So hope to see you all soon!

New Zealand re-done

Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Anna Grant

Native Kea Parrot

Glacier Waterfalls on the Road to Milford Sound

The Mirror Lakes on the Road to Milford Sound

Native to NZ diving duck

The Mirror Lakes

The Mirror lakes and mountians behind them.

One of the many glacier fed waterfalls on the road to Milford Sound

Line Dancing in Antarctica

Completed my last day of work... or so I thought....

Pot room on my last day.

Me at the Mirror Lakes, and that is my free bungy teeshirt

Right Before Jumping Kawara

Kawara Bridge Jump

My Feet at the dunking at the bottom

After the jump!

Kawara Jump

Ledge Swing

Swing

Swing

Me jumping off the Ledge Bungy

Ledge Bungy

Swing

Ledge Bungy

Ledge Swing

Ledge Bungy. That black dot is me!

Hey Everybody!

So I am actually now on a computer that I can spend some time on! Not much mind you, but more than when I posted yesterday!

I am currently sitting in an internet cafe in Dunedin, ready to jump off to Watati tomorrow.

So overview of leaving Antarctica to now...

Like I said in my earlier post I was on the test flight off of the ice in a 747 passenger plane. It was cool becuase we had windows and I was able to take some really neat pictures of Antarctica in the air. We also had refreshments, like coffee and crackers, which you don't get on a military flight. It was bad becuase we had to wait an extra 2 hours out on the ice in the cold while they took pictures and figured out how to load our luggage. Usually they pack all the bags on a pallet, wrapped in plastic wrap, so it looks like a huge cube. This works on military planes becuase you just open up the whole back and drive it on. It doesn't work on a passenger plane becuase there is a little tiny door to the hold. It was quite amusing to watch them trying to figure out what to do. All of us on the ice were saying we should create a fireman line and just load it that way, one at a time, but it took them about an hour to come to the same conclusion. Gotta love buracracy (which I did not spell right). Anyway so we did eventually get on the plane and were packed in pretty tight for the first hour, for pictures and just to see how many people they could squeeze on, but they we could move and spread out a little (there were a few empty rows left just in case). So decent flight.

Once we got to Christchurch I got settled in my room and then went out to see a little of the Christchurch nightlife. Unfortunately I couldn't stay out too late becuase I had a 8 am bus the next morning to Dunedin!

I arrived in Dunedin and luckily was able to book in a backpackers, which has become my base of operation so far, Central Backpackers, best place ever! After I had eaten dinner and wandered around a little that day I was ready for bed. However, I decided to try to figure out what bus I could take to Fairfield the next morning, in order to get where I thought I needed to be at Noon to meet the couple I was wwoofing with. I figured there would be one early in the morning, but there wasn't!! The only bus that would get me there by noon was at 11 pm that night! And it was already 10:30! So I packed my stuff really really fast and ran to the bus stop and figured i would just stay in the bus station in Fairfield. It took me, the driver, and the guy teaching the driver the route about 5 minutes (halfway to Fairfield) to realize that Anna, the lady I was wwoofing with, must have meant the Dunedin train station. But by that time it was too late! They couldn't turn around, becuase they had a charter to pick up. Apparently in NZ you can charter a city bus to pick up from a party or something, instead of multiple taxis. They couldn't just take me straight back to Dunedin either becuase then they would have to explain the milage on the bus. So they left me in Green Island, and the teacher driver said he would get his own car and come back to get me! So it is one in the morning and I am sitting at a bus station! It was quite entertaining actually. Luckily people are really nice in NZ and Peter, the driver, did come back and get me and then take me to my hostel! And I made it to the train station for my 12 pick up the next day!

So I have had my adventure for the trip!

After that I went to Anna and Allan Grant's to WWOOf! It was really fun. I was there five days and did alot of little chores around thier house and garden. I even got to dethistle a pasture for their sheep! Yay!! The coolest thing was that I could spend my mornings in Dunedin wandering around and go back by 3 to do my work for the day, since both Allan and Anna work. Anna even took me on her tramping trip on Tuesday! Which was really fun, but kinda sad too, because all these older ladies and gents (50-80!) were totally showing me up. I was always one of the last people to the stopping points. It was kinda funny. Anna also took me orienteering. Which I had never done before. Basically they set up check points all along a treck and you have to find them following a map. It is a sort of race because they time you. Anna and I were 12!, which was exciting for me.

So my first wwoofing gig went really well and I got to meet some really lovely people. My next WWOOFing wasn't for a few days so I went off to Queenstown! It was a lovely bus ride through some really spectacular scenery. I was really lucky when I got there that I found a place to stay. All of the BBH backpackers were full, but Nomads, which is a chain of hostels still had some beds! It was a really nice hostel. Most of the rooms were 6-8 people but they had thier own bathrooms and showers! I did have to switch rooms every night, which got really annoying as I had to pack up and store my luggage from 10-2 every day, before I could get into my new room. Anyway Queenstown is really beautiful. It is a town right on a huge lake surrounded by mountians. But it is really expensive, as it is mainly a tourist town. My first night there I signed up for a Pub crawl through the Hostel. Basically they take you around and show you some of the night life. With this one we got free admission to Minus 5, which is a ice box basically. They even have ice glasses to give you drinks in. It wasn't that cold to me, but it was pretty fun.

I had decided when I was still on the ice that I would do one bungy jump and a Milford sound tour. So I booked the Kuwara bridge, which is the original bungy. It is a jump from a bridge over the Kuwara river and they can dunk you!! I totally had them dunk me to my knees! (I was upside down) It was a blast. I was a little freaked right at the top so I didn't jump off, I just kinda leaned forward, but it was so much fun! It was so much fun that I decided to do another one. I went up the Gondala, which goes up to the top of one of the mountians, and I did the ledge swing. Basically the ledge is 400m above queenstown, but the swing and bungy are only about 40m or so. So I did the swing, which was a little terrifying, because you have to pull the rope to make you drop yourself! After I did that I kinda talked myself into doing the bungy. I was quite proud i could do that one, because you have to run off a ledge. It isn't a stand on the edge and jump, it is a run and jump!!!!!! So I did three bungies instead of 1. But it was totally worth it.

I did the Milford Sound Tour on Sunday and it was a full day, 8:00am till 9:30 pm. The tour I booked included the bus trip from Queenstown to the sound and back. I was going to try to get myself to the sound, but the bus only goes to the sound not back! I have no idea why! The sound is really quite beautiful, but the road to get to the sound was amazing! I really want to go back and do the Milford treck, which is a three day walk that goes out to the sound! The sound isn't really a sound it is actually a fjord and they made quite sure to tell us that a few (a lot) times so I am telling you!

Anyway so that was my adventure in NZ, I am off tomorrow for my second WWOOFing gig and it should be quite fun! So I will update probably in a week or so!

New Zealand

Hey everybody!
Sorry about the 10 day delay, but i have been busy travelling. I did end up flying out of Antarctica on the 11th. It was an interesting flight. We were the test flight for using 747 passenger planes instead of military planes to get everybody off and on the ice. It took so long to get on. They couldn't figure out how to get the baggage on and then they had to take a ton of pictures of everything!! And it was crowded with all our ecw gear, but it was a cool flight.
Anyway I got to Christchurch, had one night, and then took a buss to dunedin at 8 in the morning. Early!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I got to Dunedin, had a day and a half. Had an adventure, that I will tell you all about later becuase I am running out of money on my computer! I did my wwooffing gig in Fairfield. Really nice couple! And now I am in Queenstown leaving in a few hours. I had 2 days here though. I did a Milford sound tour and bungy jumping. Yay! I jumped off things. I hope to get pics up for you guys soon!
Anyway I gotta go. My computer will kick me off soon and I have a bus to catch. I will update in the next few days!

Random Pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seagull in Christchurch!


Learning how to use the camera. I think this pic is pretty tho




Ducks! in Christchurch!

So those pics were from Christchurch in December, but the internet was being pretty fast and letting me put pics up so I took advantage of it!

The rest of the pictures are of Antarctica! So enjoy! This is just a taste of what I have! I have hundreds of pictures.

really close to a skua! I was maybe one foot away from him.



I love this picture. I was just taking a ton of pics of this one skua and got lucky a few times!






As you can see Skua are really shy creatures, scared of humans and always fly away when you get close. Not!!! This one was hoping to get fed, but she was only gettting a camera!

These 5 were really fun to watch. They were trying to get accross the giant crack!

skuas fighting over space or food or displaying for a female. Not sure which one.

Another good shot of the skua from my day outside!

little curious Penguins!

Whales!

Whales!

Lots of poeple at Hut point to see Whales!

McMurdo one day when it was snowing.

The night of the first sighting of the penguins!

First Sighting of the penguins!

First Penguins!

So there are a few more pictures for you all. I will have alot more when I get back so keep your eye on facebook for a ton of albums. Or find me! I have video as well!

Leaving! Or not......

Station sign. I didn't even know that was there!


New blue 155. They painted the galley and my dorm!



View when I went to see the ship!




The loading of the ship


The ship when it was mostly loaded the night before it left!


Last DA Party view!


Last DA party View.



Last Da Party. Hookah in Antarctica. I just thought it was funny!



The view from the lounge where we had the last party. Wonderful view.



View from the lounge again.




country dancing in Antarctica!



more country dancing in Antarctica!






Christmas day dinner. Bunch of Das serving!




My break from Christmas dinner. Watching Chipmunks in the hallway!



Totally didn't take this picture. But these are the four emperors that we near the road and runway!





So I was supposed to fly today. That didn't happen. The flight got delayed by 24 hours, so I should leave tomorrow.


I don't have any of the baggage though. I bag dragged yesterday. I only have my carryon, which has my backpack that I am traveling with (that I don't want to unpack), my ecw gear (extreme cold weather gear; I gotta wear it on the plane), and one uniform for work. Which I had to wear today because I had to work since my flight was cancelled. Bag drag was fun. I was waiting for a shuttle, becuase we have to take all of our stuff up to the post office (even the carryon) to weigh. I gave up on the shuttle after 20 minutes so I started dragging it all. About 2 minutes after I started up the hill the shuttle showed up. Just my luck! I ended up dragging it all the way becuase I didn't want to turn around. That was tiring.

Anyway that is what is going on. Not much has been happening here besides work. We had the going away DA party in the coolest lounge on station. The lounge isn't that cool, but the view is just amazing. It has a whole two walls of windows facing hut point and the bay. It is so pretty from there. There were whales out in the bay that we were watching during the party. And the sky was really clear and the sun was going close to down. Apparently in about a week there will be a sunset! That I am going to miss, but next year!! I also spent about 30 minutes out in the cold taking pictures of the boat loading the night before it left! But hut point is back open! Yay.

I can't wait to get to NZ though. I have a couple of things set up in NZ. Volunteering at a few places and also hanging out in Christchurch with a few friends.

So see you all in a month!!! I can't wait to be able to put all my pics on facebook! and show you all the pictures and videos. I got a few videos that I am in from a friend down here who has a video camera.